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I have been to visit Trafford Press in Manchester and it is like a bomb site. Freshstart Living sold these properties back in 2011 and have still not delivered. There is a petition outstanding to WIND THE COMPANY UP and PUT IT IN LIQUIDATION.

Now the PHONELINES HAVE BEEN DISCONNECTED for Freshstart Living, FSLinvest, Empirical Property Group and PF Advisors.

Can ANYONE help?

I have now seen Trafford Press in Manchester and it looks abandoned. I have been to the offices of Freshstart Living Limited and they are empty and the phone lines are dead. Also, there is a petition outstanding to wind the company up.

Does anyone know if Viewpoint Salford is connected to this company as I have received details of this property and I seem to remember somewhere mentioned that it is an old Fresh Start Living development. Any help appreciated.

Have received sales details for this 'investment' from Prime Noble Properties (new company) and Aspen Woolf, it looks a far cry from these photos - In view of the number of failed property schemes in Manchester this is what the property looks like today. I would want to see independent evidence that the proposition is sound.

Before construction commenced, contracts were exchanged with buyers in respect of most of the 131 flats and each buyer paid a deposit of 50% of the purchase price. Their various solicitors took the usual step of registering the contracts against the seller’s title at the Land Registry. These registrations have the effect of protecting the flat buyers’ interests against the property itself and effectively prevent its sale to anyone else.

The company went into liquidation and the liquidators found a buyer and wanted to sell the site. The liquidators application to the court related to whether or not the flat buyers registrations at the land registry could be validly maintained in view of, broadly, the fact that no construction had taken place on the site and the flats – that were the subject matter of the contracts – were not yet built.

The crux of the issue was that if the buyers’ registrations could be validly maintained, then they would effectively be secured creditors and would be reimbursed from the sale of the development site. If not, then they would just be unsecured creditors in the liquidation of the company – and probably end up with very little.

The court did not actually come to a decision on the main issue – and a compromise was reached to allow the site to be sold and for the dispute to proceed at a later date with the sale proceeds being protected in the meantime. If the case does proceed then, as well as the interests of the flat purchasers, the interests of the general unsecured creditors of the company also have to be considered. They will be hoping that the flat purchasers’ claims fail so that the sale proceeds are part of the defunct company’s overall assets and therefore available for division amongst all creditors.

Work is slow on a housing development in Rotherham town centre with development companies wound up and even linked to protests in Hong Kong by worried investors.

Revised plans to convert the historic Howard Building into self-contained studios and apartments were approved by the planning board at Rotherham Council in 2015.

The prominent former college building was sold prior to going to auction after it was advertised as a development opportunity and given a guide price of £250,000 by local auctioneers, Mark Jenkinson & son.

With little evidence of the conversion into twelve, one bed apartments and 60 studio apartments at "Howard Residencies", applicants, AVRO Developments headed into insolvency, with Rotherham Council leading the petition in 2015 to have the company wound up.

Financial documents link AVRO Developments to DS7 Limited which has acted as a lender to Absolute Living Developments, Fresh Start Living and Empirical Property, all highlighted in the media as leaving buy-to-let investors out of pocket.

Similar schemes in Manchester, Bradford and across the North of England were sold off plan to investors with the promise of decent returns, but the work was never completed and companies were wound up and projects moved on in complex deals. In some cases where some work was carried out, tenants were left with exposed electrical wires, a leaking roof, an illegal gas connection, a car park strewn with contaminated waste and an open sewer pipe.

The Telegraph & Argus reported this year that police in Hong Kong are conducting an international investigation into Liverpool-based Absolute Living Developments, which had been part-way through three apartment projects in Bradford when it was placed in compulsory liquidation. Overseas investors fear they have lost their money paid in deposits.

Howard Residencies is currently being offered as an investment opportunity by Crown Union (located at a virtual office in London and shares directors with companies linked to the Howard Building and DS7 Limited). It is offered as an "Ideal purchase for investors looking at UK Buy To Let's as a way of getting onto the first rung of the property investment ladder. From dynamic apartment layouts to classic period façade and stonework surrounds, this redevelopment brings together Rotherham past and present to create a truly unique place to live for post-graduates, young professionals & key workers."

Starter pads and 1 bed apartments are being offered at £49,950 and £69,950 with an 8% ROI per annum.

Discussion forum for the investors in the Angelgate project in Manchester UK. The project was panned for completion in Feb 2016 but construction progress is almost none. Pinnacle has communicated that they will want more money from the buyers or refund initial payment when they sell the units at higher prices. For Hong Kong buyers, please contact: christyangelgate@gmail.com All other, UK, Europe, Middle East etc, please contact: angelgateukgroup@gmail.com

On Monday 29th January 2018, following a private prosecution, Andrew John Camilleri was unanimously convicted by a jury at Manchester Crown Court of making false representations in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (“IVA”)[1] proposal contrary to section 262A of the Insolvency Act 1986. The prosecution was brought by one of Camilleri’s many creditors.

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